🫠 Psychonaut POV

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the ayahuasca of newsletters. Just sit still and pay attention, and we’ll reveal all the mysteries of the universe—well, at least one or two. (Not bad for 5 mins though, right?)

Would you believe most psychedelic therapists-in-training have never had a psychedelic experience themselves? It’s true. But Carlos Tanner isn’t most psychedelic therapists. After serving ayahuasca in the jungle for 20 years, he saw the field emerging and knew he had something to offer it. So he dove in.

We asked Carlos how ayahuasca changed his belief system, what’s missing from psychedelic-assisted therapy, and how he’s bringing ancestral teachings into modern therapist training.

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What compelled you to move to Peru 20 years ago and study the healing traditions of the Amazon? Did you find what you were looking for?

I got to a point where I felt like if I didn't move to the Amazon rainforest, I'd regret it for the rest of my life. I went to Iquitos in May 2003 hoping to save my life after a near-death experience from a spiraling drug addiction. I saw that if I didn't do something drastic, I probably wouldn't survive much longer.

I didn't have many expectations, which was fortunate. Each of the five ayahuasca ceremonies I did when I arrived was a massive learning curve. I formed essential truths that radically transformed how I'd perceive my next experience. In the third ceremony, the curandero Don Juan told me it was my path to be a healer and invited me to be his student. I had such profound experiences confirming this for myself that I accepted his offer. It felt like my destiny.

Did I find what I was looking for? I'd say yes, but it looks different than I expected. I thought I'd become a shaman, not start a company or become a business owner. There were a lot of details I didn't foresee. But I feel incredibly blessed every day. I'm so fortunate to have taken that leap of faith. I'm still following my path, even though it's taken me to places I never could have imagined.

What did you learn about yourself in those five ceremonies?

I showed up for the first ceremony totally unprepared, still using drugs. Physically, it was brutal. I threw up a ton and even soiled myself. Mentally, it was terrifying. But there was this pivotal moment when an Achuar chief, who happened to be at the ceremony with me, motioned for me to come back in when I was curled up outside crying. That simple act shifted everything. I realized my terrible experience wasn't just what ayahuasca does; it was about me and my fear.

I went into the second ceremony determined not to be afraid. When a potentially scary experience started, I just thought, "I'm not going to be afraid," and what could've been terrifying turned into this incredible, dazzling spiritual experience. I also had a profound interaction with the spirit of my godmother’s son, who'd committed suicide years earlier. My friend in the ceremony saw him too, which blew my mind. It wasn't just in my head. Spirits were real in a way I'd never imagined.

After those first two experiences, I went into the third ceremony super excited and curious. That was when Don Juan told me it was my path to be a healer. I had this whole process of investigating and confirming that idea, and it just felt undeniably true.

Knowing it was my path to be a healer, I believed I could heal myself. So in the fourth ceremony, I did. My spirit left my body, I shrunk down and entered my stomach, and I removed a parasite that had been causing digestive issues for years. I also revisited a childhood trauma I'd forgotten, and was able to tell my child self the truth about it—that it wasn't my fault.

By the fifth ceremony, I felt like I could do almost anything. I was bringing in spirits of friends and family members and healing them in the ceremony. Each experience was further confirmation that this was my path. This was who I was supposed to be.

After decades of hands-on ceremonial experience in the Amazon, what motivated you to pursue certification as a psychedelic-assisted therapist?

A couple years ago, I was really excited to see psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) developing as a field. But I also saw an opportunity to contribute something unique, much like I did when I started the Ayahuasca Foundation.

Back then, I heard reports of people leading ayahuasca ceremonies in the U.S. and other countries without really knowing what they were doing. Having studied with a curandero, I felt compelled to provide some basic training. That's how the Ayahuasca Foundation started—with an initiation course to teach the principles of the ayahuasca healing tradition in a structured way.

Fast forward, and I had a similar perspective on PAT. I loved that it existed, but I wondered about who was teaching it. It seemed to me that PAT had developed as an extension of psychotherapy, and I felt it should be based more on ancestral traditions instead. So I reached out to several organizations offering PAT training and pitched the idea that their students should come to the Amazon to learn from ancestral practices.

ATMA in Canada loved the idea. To better design this program, it made sense for me to go through their standard certification process myself. I found a lot of it really good, but I also saw how it could be modified and expanded for the benefit of both practitioners and their patients.

Can you tell us more about the partnership with ATMA? What gaps are you filling in psychedelic-assisted therapists' training?

It's important to understand that, today, about 70% of ATMA's students have never had a psychedelic experience themselves. This is partly due to legal restrictions. In Canada, training programs can’t offer psychedelic experiences as part of their curriculum. However, in Peru, ayahuasca is celebrated as national heritage, so there, they can get that critical experiential component.

Our program is designed to give these therapists-in-training a profound healing experience of their own, while also teaching them key components of how traditional masters guide people through such experiences to achieve better healing outcomes. Our intention is to bridge the gap between modern psychotherapy techniques and ancestral wisdom.

We're currently running our second pilot program, working out the kinks and refining our approach. The goal is to offer this training next year to ATMA students who want to come to Peru. Eventually, we hope to expand and offer it to students from all PAT programs, not just ATMA’s.

This partnership is really about addressing a major gap in psychedelic therapy training. Just as you wouldn't expect a mountain guide to lead people up Everest without first climbing it themselves, it's essential for therapists to have personal experience with the profound states they'll be guiding others through. An understanding of the chemistry isn’t enough; you should be familiar with the non-material aspects of consciousness that are so central to the psychedelic experience, too. I believe that’s what’s missing from training programs today.

Apprenticeship was the core component of your education, and it’s still the basis of the programs you lead with the Ayahuasca Foundation today. How would you like to see apprenticeship woven into modern PAT training?

At the Ayahuasca Foundation, we've been working with Onaya Science for the last eight years. They're psychiatrists and psychologists from the UK doing research on ayahuasca. By now, many of these doctors have basically done Shipibo apprenticeships themselves! So for our program with PAT students, these doctors who've been initiated already will be the facilitators. They can speak the language of therapists but also interpret indigenous concepts into modern therapy terms.

Now, we're not trying to turn these therapists into full-on curanderos. But we do want to introduce some really important concepts. If we can transform four or five key truths that are the foundation of their belief system, it'll shape how they work with patients and improve their outcomes.

One of those key truths is that spirit is real, and we're not alone. In practically every ancestral tradition, we aren’t seen as individuals, but as part of this incredibly complex, interconnected collection of beings that make up nature. The wisdom accessible to us comes through that interconnectivity.

So part of the training will be a plant dieta, which is core to becoming a curandero. It's how they form relationships with plant spirits and elements of nature. In an ayahuasca ceremony, the curandero isn't working alone; they're collaborating with these plant spirits. My vision is that if therapists are connected to nature’s wisdom network, they'll be much better equipped to guide patients.

It’s interesting. Everyone I've talked to in the psychedelic therapy field—from Columbia University to UC Berkeley to Fluence—is there because of ayahuasca. Not ketamine, not psilocybin, not MDMA, but ayahuasca. That fact alone tells me that the ayahuasca tradition has a lot to offer this emerging field.

Want more from Carlos?

Learn more about the Ayahuasca Foundation’s courses and training programs in Peru.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.